Typically in electronic systems such as filters and communication channels, cutoff frequency applies to an edge in a lowpass, highpass, bandpass, or band-stop characteristic - a frequency characterizing a boundary between a passband and a stopband. It is sometimes taken to be the point in the filter response where a transition band and passband meet, for example, as defined by a half-power point (a frequency for which the output of the circuit is -3 dB of the nominal passband value). Alternatively, a stopband corner frequency may be specified as a point where a transition band and a stopband meet: a frequency for which the attenuation is larger than the required stopband attenuation, which for example may be 30 dB or 100 dB.

In the case of a waveguide or an antenna, the cutoff frequencies correspond to the lower and upper cutoff wavelengths.

Electronics

In electronics, cutoff frequency or corner frequency is the frequency either above or below which the power output of a circuit, such as a line, amplifier, or electronic filter has fallen to a given proportion of the power in the passband. Most frequently this proportion is one half the passband power, also referred to as the 3 dB point since a fall of 3 dB corresponds approximately to half power. As a voltage ratio this is a fall to 1/2≈0.707{\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\sqrt {1/2}}\ \approx \ 0.707} of the passband voltage.[1] Other ratios besides the 3 dB point may also be relevant, for example see Chebyshev Filters below.

Chebyshev filters

Sometimes other ratios are more convenient than the 3 dB point. For instance, in the case of the Chebyshev filter it is usual to define the cutoff frequency as the point after the last peak in the frequency response at which the level has fallen to the design value of the passband ripple. The amount of ripple in this class of filter can be set by the designer to any desired value, hence the ratio used could be any value.[2]

Radio communications

In radio communication, skywave communication is a technique in which radio waves are transmitted at an angle into the sky and reflected back to Earth by layers of charged particles in the ionosphere. In this context, the term cutoff frequency refers to the maximum usable frequency means the frequency above which a radio wave fails to reflect off the ionosphere at the incidence angle required for transmission between two specified points by reflection from the layer.

where the integers n,m≥0{\displaystyle n,m\geq 0} are the mode numbers, and a and b the lengths of the sides of the rectangle. For TE modes, n,m≥0{\displaystyle n,m\geq 0} (but n=m=0{\displaystyle n=m=0} is not allowed), while for TM modes n,m≥1{\displaystyle n,m\geq 1}.

The cutoff frequency of the TM01 mode (next higher from dominant mode TE11) in a waveguide of circular cross-section (the transverse-magnetic mode with no angular dependence and lowest radial dependence) is given by

However, the dominant mode cutoff frequency can be reduced by the introduction of baffle inside the circular cross-section waveguide.[4] For a single-mode optical fiber, the cutoff wavelength is the wavelength at which the normalized frequency is approximately equal to 2.405.

Mathematical analysis

The starting point is the wave equation (which is derived from the Maxwell equations),

The function ψ{\displaystyle \psi } here refers to whichever field (the electric field or the magnetic field) has no vector component in the longitudinal direction - the "transverse" field. It is a property of all the eigenmodes of the electromagnetic waveguide that at least one of the two fields is transverse. The z axis is defined to be along the axis of the waveguide.

The "longitudinal" derivative in the Laplacian can further be reduced by considering only functions of the form

where subscript T indicates a 2-dimensional transverse Laplacian. The final step depends on the geometry of the waveguide. The easiest geometry to solve is the rectangular waveguide. In that case, the remainder of the Laplacian can be evaluated to its characteristic equation by considering solutions of the form

which is the dispersion relation in the rectangular waveguide. The cutoff frequency ωc{\displaystyle \omega _{c}} is the critical frequency between propagation and attenuation, which corresponds to the frequency at which the longitudinal wavenumber kz{\displaystyle k_{z}} is zero. It is given by

The wave equations are also valid below the cutoff frequency, where the longitudinal wave number is imaginary. In this case, the field decays exponentially along the waveguide axis and the wave is thus evanescent.